Christian Menefee says he’s earned support ‘the hard way’ in campaign for Houston’s 18th District seat
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee is running for Houston’s 18th Congressional District seat, saying he wants to fight for working families and protect democracy. His top priorities include health care access, cost of living, and environmental justice.
Sixteen people are vying to fill Houston’s 18th Congressional District seat, a position left vacant after the passing of Sylvester Turner in March.
All this week, KPRC 2 is introducing you to the top candidates hoping to serve out the remainder of Turner’s term. To keep things fair, we literally pulled names from a mug to decide who we feature each day.
Christian Menefee, the current Harris County Attorney, polling the highest - has earned a wave of major endorsements including support from the family of the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. But Menefee says those endorsements don’t make him the ‘establishment candidate.’
“Oh, I don’t consider myself an establishment candidate at all,” Menefee said in an interview with KPRC 2’s Rilwan Balogun. “When I ran for county attorney in 2020, I ran against a three-term incumbent. Everybody told me I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning that race. I didn’t have a single elected official endorsement, and I still won with 50% of the vote.”
His campaign website shows a who’s who of Harris County and Houston elected leaders such as County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Lesley Briones, and recently, outspoken Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
“We’ve done the real work and when you come to people, and you say ‘I’ve done the real working and now I’m asking for your support to go off and do the real work in D.C.’ What I’ve seen is that those conversations are pretty straightforward. I know you, I know your work, I believe in you and I’m happy to support you,” he said.
Raised in the 18th District by military parents, Menefee says his family’s experience using federal programs, from military health benefits to Pell Grants, shaped his belief in government as a force for opportunity.
“I’m running because it was a thoughtful, compassionate, helpful government that gave me my fair shot at the American dream,” Menefee said. “When I was growing up, there were many nights I wouldn’t have eaten were it not for the WIC [Women, Infants, and Children] program.”
Menefee says he wants to ensure that same sense of opportunity reaches everyone in the district.
“I’m running to make sure everyone in our community has health care and that all of our neighborhoods have sidewalks that lead to grocery stores, not just corner stores,” he said.
Top issues: Health Care, cost of living, environmental justice
Menefee says the three biggest issues facing the 18th District are health care, cost of living, and environmental justice.
As county attorney, he’s made environmental protection a focus.
“I’ve been fighting against concrete batch plants and addressing cancer cluster issues,” he said. “There are too many communities that have high rates of asthma and COPD, that have lower life expectancies. We can’t accept that.”
On the rising cost of living, Menefee says he wants to reverse recent changes to SNAP benefits that take effect November 1.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), a sweeping law that, among other things, reshapes who qualifies for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The biggest changes center around work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents, known as ABAWDs.
“The 18th District has the largest number of SNAP beneficiaries of any district in Texas,” he said. “The cuts are horrific. I’m committed to doing everything I can to get that funding restored and to expand social safety net programs.”
He adds that if Democrats regain control of Congress after 2026, they’ll have a chance to go beyond blocking Republican-led initiatives.
“I want folks to have health care, to have SNAP benefits, to have down payment assistance, to be able to go to college for free,” Menefee said. “I’m committed to using our federal tax dollars to help people, not corporations.”
As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Menefee says he supports the approach House Democrats have taken.
“If I were in Congress, I’d do just like House Democrats are doing, requiring that any continuing resolution guarantees people’s premiums won’t skyrocket because Affordable Care Act subsidies are expiring,” he said. “The President needs to promise that folks on the ACA won’t see their premiums go up two, three, four times.”
Menefee describes himself as a fighter who wants to be “on the front lines” protecting democracy.
“I got into public service because I deeply believe you have to stand up for the democracy you want to see,” he said. “That’s why I ran for county attorney — and now, I see that fight happening in Washington.”
